


Everlasting Winds

by Fjeril



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Angst, Gen, Spoilers (Kinda), Was supposed to be fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4669772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fjeril/pseuds/Fjeril
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knows that place. She knows it too well. Why can't she put her finger on it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everlasting Winds

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler-ish, in some sort, yet not explicitly. Read at your own risks.

When Rose opened her eyes, she thought she was going to get blind. The sky was clear and bright, without a cloud to be seen. She felt as if she was waking up from a very, very long nap. It was probably the case, because she found herself not recognizing the world around her. It did feel familiar, but she still couldn't tell where the vast land around her led. The hill looked pretty, though, and she got up on her feet so she could take a look at the lands surrounding her. If she found a town, she prob ably would learn more about it all.

As she ran in the valley, something appeared clearly in her mind: she wasn't supposed to stay here for long. But in her heart, she could hear another sound. There was something she needed to find before she had to leave this place. 

Yet she didn't know what, or why. She didn't have the slightest idea of what it was supposed to be, or even what it looked like.

But it was okay. She would find it. She was a strong girl, no reason she wouldn't. Plus, if it was an important thing to her, it would definitely shine to her eyes. Closing them, she started spinning, to try and forget where she was exactly. Then, pointing right in front of her with her index, she abruptly stopped. Rose opened her eyes, smiled, and looked at the direction, fists on her hips. 

"Alright, this is where I'm going!"

She started running, following a path she was tracing in her mind. It was all decided, and it could only be that way!...

Or so she thought, seeing the hill she had started from.

"Okay. That's nothing. I probably just got lost somewhere."

She went back on her steps, to find where she had messed up. But as her feet led her on what she was sure was the exact path she had taken, she didn't recognize the woods she had ran trough the first time. Or the small lake. Instead, there were trees. Lots of large, big, dark trees. Denser and denser, darker and darker. She tried and looked behind her, just to judge if she could go back. But there were only trees, and the path she had been following all along had disappeared. The warmth she had been feeling from the moment she had awaken had vanished, and she started feeling cold. Very cold. Yet, there wasn't any wind. The atmosphere just seemed to have completely changed, without her realizing it.

Seeing she didn't have any other choice, she kept walking forward, way slower. She knew that kind of places, at least in the stories she had read and heard, was likely to hide ghost. And if there was something she feared in this world, it was ghosts.

Her steps kept getting slower and slower as she walked further in the forest. Her hair dressed on her nape, and a unpleasant chill ran through her spine. There was no noise around her, but be it because she felt stuck, as if the trees were going to struggle her, or because the tree branches only let a few sun rays cross them, it seemed to her that _something_ was there. She _knew_ it. She could _feel_ it. And what she also knew was that she couldn't fight it.

Yet, she stayed firm on her feet, and, on her guard, watched every step she made. It was both so close and so far at the same time... It seemed to be everywhere at the same time: in the sky, under the ground, in the trees...

Rose's mind went blank when she understood the truth. It wasn't _near_ , nor _far_... It was _all around her_. She had fallen in a trap, and didn't know at all how she could get out of there. So she started by attacking the trees. If she wasn't wrong, they were just an illusion. No trees. Probably nothing else either. 

"Heh, not like I really have a choice, here," she stated, trying her best techniques against the trees.

Unexpectedly, she actually made cut marks on the trees. And they did feel real, too. If it was an illusion, then it was a strong one. 

"Show yourself!" she dared shouting, trying to hide the sprout of panic in her voice. _What if it was really a ghost?_

She shook her head so she could think straight instead of imagining stupid things, and looked all around her. The should have been something that could indicate her where to attack, or through where she could flee. Any options would be better than running blindly through the illusion.

"You're a real pain in the ass."

The deep, strong voice seemed to come out from just behind her back, but when she turned around, nobody was there. Was the illusion maker mocking her?

"Well I _do_ hope so!" she stated, trying to find the slightest clue of a movement between the trees.

But nothing was there, except the breeze on her skin. If only she could tell where it came from, she'd be able to find the way out - yet, exactly like the thing, it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Daggers unsheathed, Rose prepared herself for the fight.

The wind seemed to blow stronger and stronger, and she soon wasn't able to see what was surrounding her anymore, which enraged her even more. If she wasn't able to see her enemy - or enemies? - how was she supposed to fight them? She tried cutting in the tornado, with not success. Its heart started moving, and she knew that if she didn't follow the movement, she was _dead_. So she started running, but the wind was faster and stronger than the frail human she was.

It wasn't a real surprise for her, to be embarked by the blowing winds, but it felt really frustrating, and it was even more frustrating that she couldn't do a single thing about that - not even moving a finger without risking breaking it. So she closed her eyes, and waited for it all to stop. Waiting patiently for the nightmare to cease, she realized something was unusual: she should be deafened by the noise, her head should be spinning, and her body feel uncomfortable.

Yet, none of these was happening. Actually, the travel was quite pleasant. Was she only dreaming...? _No, a dream can't be that real_. All of this was supposedly real, then. _What a weird reality, Rose told herself. It's like nothing can directly affect me, or-_

The train of her thought was brutally interrupted by her falling on the ground. It hurt a bit, but clearly not as much as it was supposed to. When she looked all around her, the tornado was gone, as well as the forest. She was on that damned cliff, but the scenery around it was different. What the...

"You really are the worst pain in the ass!"

It was the same voice as before, except this time, she could perfectly distinguish where it was coming from. Behind her, a tall, green haired man stood, seemingly angry. He seemed quite familiar, but she didn't have th time to detail him that he started shouting again.

"If you weren't so careless, you wouldn't have been engulfed in that thing! It was going to eat you all, do you even think, sometimes?"

Okay. Who was this man, and how did he dare talk to her as if she was a child?

"Listen, mister I-come-from-nowhere-and-shout-at-you-for-no-apparent-reason, how was I supposed to know that if I moved from here, I'd get in some creep's stomach?! I just woke up!"

...Woke up from what, exactly? Rose pondered, yet wasn't able to answer her own question. What had happened before she woke up?

"Exactly, you just woke up. Usually, people who just woke up take the time to wonder where they are and what happened. But of course you couldn't act reasonably and had to run without thinking! What's in your head? Thin air?"

_Yeah_ , she almost answered, _something like that_. She looked at man once again, this time getting to take a look at his general attitude. She was sure she had seen him somewhere... And...

"Hey. Were you the _wind_ that just... Let's say, save me?"

If his eyes weren't hidden under his hair - and a hat - he'd probably be looking at her in disbelief. _No, he wouldn't be able to_. The thought surprised Rose, though it was definitely hers. Somehow, she knew the man facing her was blind? ...Okay, that was too much. 

"How would I have told you you were a pain in the ass if I wasn't?  
\- No, but - you were the _wind_. I mean. You saved my life and all, that's cool, but. The _wind_ ? What is it? A child's bad dream?  
\- I _freaking_ saved your life and that's all you're thinking about?"

Rose growled, and turned her back to the man. She wasn't going to thank him, if it was what he was waiting for. She could have perfectly made it all alone. ...No, she couldn't. Sighing, the red haired girl dared muttering a thanks, before getting aware of something.

"We have to get out of here!"

It was as if something in her had reacted to this. They were out of the unknown creature's stomach, but not out of the... The realm? Yeah, she would call it that.

"Our time is limited! That's why I was running carelessly!"

Instead of answering, the man just took her wrist in the palm of his hand, and dragged her to the top of a cliff. There, he just kept walking beyond the ground. But instead of falling, he just stood there, waiting for her, and took off his hat. 

When she joined him, just before the light took both of them, she could swear she saw green eyes watching her fondly.

**Author's Note:**

> (Notes with spoilers)  
> Hahahahahahaha  
> I wanted to write post-Rose's (natural) death reunion with Dezel. Like with a touch of fluff and all. But there's always an a--hole to change your plan, isn't there.


End file.
